The Way of the Predator
by Skullghost
Summary: A Science-Fiction Militairy story about a man who gets a chance to become one of the 15 best 'hunters' in the galaxy. (this story is not related to the Alein or Predator movie franchise) (cover image is also temporairy. working on that atm.) Current state: 5 chapters
1. Chapter one: Awakening

The way of the Predator

Awakening

A silend humm roars like a really far away earthquake as the massive spaceship burns for orbit. The lights start to slowly shine. he hasnt felt light in centuries. It was warm and it stung in his eyes. The capsule he had been lain dormant in pressurised with a light hissing sound. The glass in front of him became transparent once more. A poorly lit room filled with cryosleep caskets. Thousands and thousands of them as he looked down the giant pilar made of capsules. A red light shined from the outside. Slowly he gained consiousness and started to feel his body again. His memory was still blank, but he could think. A large mechanical arm appeared and grabbed on to his cryosleep casket. Loud bangs and whistling were heard as the casket door was pulled open. above him hung a breather-mask. He quickly pulled the straps over his head and pushed the pressurisation button. He could breathe. As the arm dissapeared with his casket door, he floated slowly forwards in zero-gravity. As far as he could see were large pillars with countless cryo-capsules stacked upon eachother. Green light shone upon him. He looked up and saw it was coming from an airlock. He moved towards it, making swimming-like motions to propell himself. The room was filled with gasses he better didnt inhale. It would be too energy expensive to oxigen-filter the entire room. When he reached the airlock, ten minutes had passed. He slowly started to remember what he was doing, and why he was in cryosleep.

He pulled the lever on the arilock. It opened and the vacuum sucked him in. The doors automatically closed hhind him and the room depressurised again. The other door of the airlock opened as he felt a light downforce. It got more intense the closer he moved to the door. His feet touched the ground as his eyes accustomed to the bright light coming from the other side of teh door. Two tall figures stood before him in white lab-coats. One looked like a lizard and the other had a strange elongated head and two sets of dark-blue eyes. The lizard held a a set of clean white clothes and gave it to him wit the words: "Put this on, you silly. you dont want the commander to see your jhonson, do you?" He remenbered. They were his freinds from the science division. The lizard was called Ro'ak. Always braggin about his nano-technology gadgets. The other guy was called 'Minno' because his real name was absolutely unpronouncable. he was always working on strange synthetic fluids. His purpuse on the ship was to synthesise and experiment on alien liquids. He put on his clean set clothes. It was like an officers uniform, but completely in white and without the medails or breast pocket. Even his pants didnt have pockets. He took a glance at the room. A long, wide hallway stretching far beyond his eyes reach. It was filled with machine parts and controll stations. The General hall, he remembered. A machines that controlled the energy flow thoughout the ship were seated here. Pilars of monitors with a thousand and one different statistics and numbers were dotted around the place. Enormous contraptions of metal struts joints and cable covered the left wall. Mechanical combat suits laid on teh floor and hung on these cables, half disassembled. At his left there was a big gate that lad to the engineering bay. He found it strange to see all these machines and contraptions filling up this usually empty hall. "did something happen to the engineering bay while i was out?" he asked. Ro'ak answered "well, not really. The engineers were just modifying the Laccs tanks, so they neede all the space they could get. They moves most easy-to-move things in here. Its a bit of a mess at the moment, but at least the Laccs are operational now. "Laccs... if i remember correctly, they were those huge quadrepedal guns, right?" he asked. Ro'ak nodded. "But, we havent used them in ages, why would they need to be operational?" he asked. Ro'ak replied: "well, you see.. thats eactly the point. They are never being used, so we're leaving them behind. We're gonna give them to Antar when we drop you off. We cant give them half finished tanks. They wouldnt be happy with that." "So we're going to unload the tanks on Antar? Ok." Minno has hopping around seeking attention for a while during their conversation. "Zane, you should really be going now." Minno said. Ro'ak appologised for taking his time. Zane nodded and stepped forward. He lokked back at the two and waved them goodbye. "I'll see you in a year, i guess?" "Good luck on Antar buddy!" Ro'ak yelled through the hallway as the distance between the grew. Now accomodated to the artificial gravity, he walked at a steady speed through the hallway while greeting a handful of working engineers on the way. They all wished him good luck. They were awful kind to him. More then usual. Dis they know something he didnt?

Zane arrived at the end of the hallway and took a right. He walked into a small rounded room. The door closed behind him and hissing sounds were heard. On the other side of the room there was another door. A red light started to bling above him. A womans voice coming from the sealing said: "Warning, room depressirising in 5..4..3..2.." he felt slight panic, but then remembered he was still wearing a breather mask. He felt the air being sucked out of the room. A second later the doors on the other side opened slowly ans the air of the other room entered this one. The womnas voice said: "Species analysis: Human. Environment Breathable. You may take off your breather mask and store it in the locker to your right. He did as was instructed. He put the mask into the locker and closed it. The womans voice said: "Please proceed to the net room, Captain Zane Troyard. You are being expected."

he stepped out of the little airlock into the nt room, which seemed to be an office. Ther was a desk in front of him but the room seemed empty at first glance. He looked to his left. There was a big old lizardman sitting into a leather sofa while smoking a cigar. The man blew smoke into the air and said: " goodmorning, captain. Did you have a good night sleep?" "sure slept like a rock, sir." Zane replied in an ironic way. The man chuckled and said "Haven't heard that one before." "Commander," Zane spoke. "i heard you had something to say to me." the lizard sat up straight an looked Zane in the eyes. "Indeed, i have. Its time for the welp to become a wolf." he said. "You were chosen to become a member of the top elite hunter force The Antari Wolves. Thats why we are going to Antar now. We've trained you well, and Leiff Orland has taken note of your accomplishments." Zane's joy was clearly readable from his face. He was seachless. "and if Marshall Orland asks me to give him my best soldier, i can't possibly refuse." the lizardman said. "You will meet him on Antar, where he will put you through the test that will determin whether you are worhty of being the fifteenth member of the best hunter team of the galaxy." the sofa made cracking sounds as the old lizardman stood up and left that spot he seemed to be sitting in for the past few hours. He put his hand on Zane's shoulder and said: "It pains me to see you go, Captain. But this is a great honor for all of us. I really hope you will become that fifteenth Wolf. You deserve this, after all you've been through." Zane's mood was somewhat dropped by these painful words. "Congratulations" the commander said in a somewhat casual way. Zane knew his pain. Its like losing a Soldier in battle, only that this in not battle, but politics. "Don't worry, commander. I will make you proud. I will become the fifteenth wolf and they shall know your name as the one who got me that far." The commander chuckled asd smiled. "Its a relief to hear you say that, Zane. Now go wash yourself, you havent showerd in centuries." "Sir, yes sir!" Zane replied with a smile on his face and left the room.


	2. Chapter two: Goodbye, old friend

Goodbye, old friend,

Zane leaned on the window as the large spaceship cut his engines to finalize the orbit burn. The big window gave a great view. He saw the giant structure holding the internal thruster components of the ship hanging above him in outer space. He could still see the bottom of the golden letters inscribed on the ships armor, "Ardonteon" it spelled. The Ardonteon was one of the most important vessel in the fleet, and above all, it was his home for the last few centuries. Even if he only spent a fraction of the time awake, it still felt as home. Leaving it would be a great change but the honor to become an Antari Wolf was too tempting. To stride amongst the immortals was always his dream. He had trained every day of his life for this, but now he was not so sure anymore. Its not like he had a choice. To refuse such a chance is to spit in Marshall Orlands face. But he was nervous. The big green pearl in front of him was Androsi, the gas giant that hosts the forest moon of Antar. He stepped back from the window and walked through the engineering bay back to the great hall. On the other side of the hallway, straight across, there was a big elevator that brought him to the top level. There he ended up in the shuttle bay.

On his way he saw huge transport ships getting loaded with the big Laccs tanks. They were carried onto the cargo bay with their legs folded in to save space. Those things had not been used in over a thousand years. Not that they were no good, no, in the contrary. They were the best destructive machines on the ship. Its just that they take too long to deploy, are really slow, and are easily taken down by an air-strike. It would only be useful in a siege operation. But those kind of operations are outdated now. Since they invented the orbital bombardment shells, these tanks were obsolete. Orbital bombardment shells are shells for large spaceships to be fired down to a planet. They were very hard and had a shield made of super sciency material that kept it from burning up in the atmosphere and keep momentum. It floored cities in a matter of seconds. Its a shame. He always thought it to be fun having an objective where the tank dealt the damage and they defended it at all cost while slowly moving forwards. He stepped out of the lift and walked into the small troop transport that would bring him to the moon's surface.

When he stepped aboard the shuttle, he remembered all the times he went out on a mission, this shuttle filled with a hundred men all armed to the teeth and ready to fight, and to die for the gods. All were so sure of their purpose, every single time they all wanted to be there. This was nothing like it. Instead of a hundred men strapped in the seats, ha sat alone in a space so big it felt lonely. He was the only man aboard the ship. There wasn't even a pilot. The ship was remote controlled. A drone, if you may call it that way. He knew not what was ahead of him, he only knew it was hard, and he had to survive. It was like he would go into a battle alone, armed with only his fists. The commander explicitly said not to take anything with him but his clothes. All the alien faces of all the races, no more. It sure could be the last time on an Adronteon shuttle. The doors of the shuttle closed and the hangar doors opened. He strapped himself in and looked out of the tiny window to see the engineering crew for the last time. The shuttle, in the shape of a half of a disk, smoothly flew through the forcefield and glided through space. It took a sharp turn to face the planet and it accelerated. "Adronteon, my home for many years, I bid you farewell." Zane mumbled to himself.

As the ship closed in on the moon, reentry heat was building up. Heavy turbulence was shaking the ship. Zane closed his eyes and grabbed on tight to his straps. As the turbulence was starting to drop, so did Zane's fear. It was always scary on reentry. He once saw a shuttle filled with troops get torn apart by the turbulence. Frightening how dangerous an atmosphere can be. The windows once again became transparent after reentry. They turned white to protect our eyes from the light reentry caused. He looked out of the window, fascinated like a child, to see an enormous tropical forest as far as he could see. On the distance on the edge of the forest and the sea, there was a big tower. We were flying towards it. The tower of the 'Phaege', they called it. It was were all the powerful people of Antar lived. "That is were Marshall Leiff Orland would be. And thats where I am goin." he thought to himself.


	3. Chapter three: Dawn of a new age

Dawn of a new age.

The shuttle took off again, Leaving Captain Zane on the tower. The landing platform, brightly lit, now dimmed its lighting until only the light at the entrance on the building was shining brigthly. The little lamps that aided the shuttle land made their final blink. Zane went through the door inside ,where he ended up in a big area with seats, a table in the middle and a desk against the wall in front of him. The room was empty, but as he looked in the corners, not left unattended at all. Security cameras in every corner kept the place visible from all angles. There was a television mounted in the wall on his right. He took a seat in the big sofa in front of it and listened to what the female news reporter had to say.

It was news from Ayer, the capitol of the empire. A big crowd gathered in front of the Twin Palace, the seat of the emperor. There was a big lizard man on the balcony holding a speech. He recognized this lizard. He was Hydran prince Helios, second son of the emperor and heir to his throne. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Hydran empire," the prince spoke, "for over four thousand years, we have lived in piece and prosperity. This however ended two weeks ago, when the Breathan empire attacked and invaded our home. Ayer once again lies in ruin, and our emperor, my father, is dead. In contradiction to his advisors, he believed the Guardian would protect the planet, as it has always done. This time, we were not so fortunate. It is a miracle that my brother, Gonzales Prime, arrived in time to put an end to this invasion. Sadly he could not attend this speech, due to his injuries." he rose his fist and spoke loud "Today, we will NOT sit idly by while the Breathans burn our homes and kill our children. Today, we will NOT stay neutral in the conflict between Breatha and the rest of the galaxy. NO! Today we take up arms, gather our kin and send every last one of those dirty bulls to the afterlife! If it is war they want, we will give them war. And we will show them that it is NOT war they want!" the crowd went mental at those words. The Hydrans sure are exited to kick some Breathan ass. To be fair, this is the second time the Breathans invaded Ayer, and the second time they lost. As far as I know the Breathans, they will try again until it works. A counter offensive might be a wise choice, but the Breathan fleet is the largest in the galaxy. I could not predict the outcome of this war. But it seems there will be a third Great war over New Orion, our galaxy.

The screen went back to the reporter. "On other news, There seems to be a new whelp making his way to Antar. Will this one survive to become the fifteenth Antari Wolf? .." he got interrupted by another voice "Seems you're on TV, lad" Zane looked over his shoulder and a young salamander man stood behind him. He was dressed in an officers uniform, but in black and red, instead of white and blue. "I'm sorry for interrupting you, but theres a certain Marshall who'd like to see you. And this old man doesn't like waiting, you see". Zane immediately apologized to him, expecting him to be a higher officer, and answering to him with 'sir'. "Ho, Captain, I'm sorry, but theres a misunderstanding. I'm merely an errand boy. I'm not even enlisted in the army." the salamander spoke with a wide smile of flattery on his face. "Oh, then it seems I have misunderstood. Then how come you're wearing an officers uniform?", Zane asked. "It's actually the clothes that us Phaeges wear, Captain." the salamander replied. "ah" Zane said in a somewhat abrupt way. "This way, Captain" the salamander instructed as he signaled the captain to follow him. After a long walk though several corridors and elevators, they finally arrived at what seemed to be another lobby.

The walls were brown wood with a black flower pattern on them. In the middle of the room, there was a small wooden table with a set of leather armchairs. The armchairs were way too big for regular human proportions. But these clearly weren't made for humans, since in one of the chairs a giant lizard of at least 3 meters high was seated. He was old and his scales weren't smooth like the scales of the young prince from TV. He was well, judging from the appearance was a Hydran. The lizard spoke with a heavy tone: "Ah, Captain Zane. Did you have a good flight?" Zane jumped up on the chair and sat down. "A bit turbulent, but I landed safely, sir" "No need for formalities here, Zane. You and I are going to have to get really well acquainted in the future. I am Great Marshall Leiff Orland, probably the oldest Hydran you'll ever see." he said with a smile of irony. After introduction, Zane and Leiff chatted a while. The errand boy from before brought them some local beverage. It had gotten darker as their conversation progressed. And telling each other war stories from back in the first war, their conversation grew louder. The sun had set by the time the laughing came to an end. The time for serious conversation had come. "So, Zane. We've been sitting here for a while now, and judging from our conversation, you are quite the guy. But I still can't tell if you're really the person for the job. As ritual demands, tomorrow, we send you into the jungle. Beware this is one of the most dangerous jungle in Hydran territory." Zane listened carefully as the old lizard spoke. "you will be sent out there tomorrow, on the other side of the continent, with all you have now. The chances you wont return will be great, but I trust in your abilities to become our first human Wolf. You will need to survive for one year, and in that time, make it back to the palace. This might be the most difficult task of your life, but once you're through with it, you'll be what you have dreamed of. An Antari Wolf." Zane stood up and thanked the Marshall for this evening. The errand boy offered him to show him to his room as Leiff said "One more thing, Zane. Beware of the Eclipse winter. It gets mighty cold then." Zane nodded and left with the salamander man.

The room he'd be staying the night was a small room with a desk, a chair and a bed. He didn't bring any extra clothes, so no need for a closet. He had a small window looking out over the vast junlge. "So I'm gonna be over there for the following year" he spoke to himself. He felt nervous. To survive an entire year into possibly the most dangerous jungle without any gear. Its like a death sentence. He already started to doubt his ability to survive. But most important thing to do prior to a year in hell, is having a good night sleep. So he laid down into his bed, that was ,like everything in this building, too big for him, and hoped for a fortunate year ahead of him. He thought to himself: "I am at the dawn of a new chapter in my life, as the entire empire is at the dawn of his." shortly after, he fell asleep.


	4. Chapter four: Shadows of the past

Shadows of the past.

Zane jumped over the chunks of rubble that were the remainders of a residence after the orbital artillery started speaking. By some architectural wonder, some of the high buildings survived the blast. But when he looked closer, it seems that it was merely their skeleton left standing. Screams of agony interrupted the silence here and there. Some unlucky fellows who survived the bombings and got stuck under the rubble. They were better off dead. There was no rescue coming for them. Everything was destroyed. Even Zane wasnt allowed to help.

Nature must run its course. The hunters hunt, and the hunted be hunted. The poor survivors had been caught by the teeth of the traps. There is no more hope for them. Just as theres no more hope for a mouse that snapped his neck on the mousetrap, but refuses to die. He will die eventually. Nobody will help the mouse. It has no business on this world anymore. The best thing Zane could do for them is end their suffering. "That is the way of the Predator" he thaught to himself. Its a thaught far less appealing once he lived by it, but it made sense. That was the most important thing for him, that things make sense, that he understands.

He stepped up to the two riflemen who were looking through their scopes, scouting for possible survivors. Its the hunters job to hunt the last ones down. "I dont think there are any survivors, chaps." One of them said. Zane rested his blade against a broken wall and leaned back. he replied: "theres never been such a day. Theres always someone who survives. " the other rifleman put down his gun and sat down on the rubble. "Theres a first time for everything, cap. Maybe this truly is that day." Zane looked down to the ground. Little rocks and a lot of dust. "Well, we've been here for a couple of days now. Lets just do one more sweep. If we dont find anything on this one, I will accept the idea that there are no survivers." The two riflemen strapped their guns to their backs and climbed over the piles of stones and broken walls. Zane grabbed his hunters blade and followed. Screams only got louder as they went. Ten minutes later they reached the city.

Every second, the amount of screams echoing through the broken city decreased. This place got more dead every second. They entered through the glass roof of an underground shopping center. They cleared the place, checking every spot. A lot of clothing stores, nightn shops, and all of them bhad been smashed to dust. Broken glass covered the floor, or whats left of it. Nothing, again. They climbed back up. The rifleman that got up first took his binoculars and stared in the distance. "Sir, movement!" He yelled. Zane and the other rifleman started climbimg faster. The rifleman took his gun and poited it into the distance. He looked though his scope for a while. The second rifleman reached the top and took his binoculars and looked. he put his hand on the barrel of the gun of the other with the words: "Its just a dog, you idiot."

Zane slowed down climbing. 'False alarm' he thaught. But then he hears dome silemt crackling. Like footsteps on little rocks. "Guys, be on guard!" he yelled. Not even a secomd later he heard a clinging sound coming from above. The riflemen turned aroud. "Grenad..." BOOOM. A huge explosion covered up the sky and the ground trembeled. The rubble Zane was holding on to got loose and he fell. Time slowed down and his entire life flashed before his eyes. He reashed through the roof of onne of the shops.

A cloud of dust swallowed him whole as he fell on his back through the roof. The fragments of iron coming from overhead madehkis way through the armor into his skin. The sharp stones of the rubble tore throug his back. Blood spilled all over his suit and he started feeling cold. He slowly dazed out. The last thing he saw was a vague image of some figures looking down the hole.

Zane opened his eyes. He was back into his little bedroom. Just a dream.

On his way to the shuttle bay, he came across Leiff. The old lizard stopped him in his way. "No need to hurry, mate. The shuttle isnt ready yet." he said. He explained that there has been a confusion in dates, and the engineering team hadnt prepaired the sshuttle yet. "They are working on it as we speak. It should only take a few hours. Lets hope they're done before sunrise. Lets have us some breakfast in the mean time." The marshall said. Zane refused his invitation "I've already had breakfast." "Then a drink, perhaps?" Leiff asked. "If you insist." Zane replied. He followed Leiff to the bar. Once arrived, Leiff got behind the bar and pulled out a crimson red bottle with evil looking decorations. "Drainblood?" he asked. Zane was not sure if he meant it as a joke. "In my culture, drinking one's blood is conmcidered vampirism." To wich the marshall replied "In my culture, refusing a drink from your host is concidered a sign of disrespect. Besides, you're on the verge of becoming an animal for a year. Why keep up your morals now?" His tune was convincing enough to sway Zane. Leiff poored out two wine glasses of the Drainblood.

While the two warriors sat down on the white leather sofa's in the cafetaria, Leiff asked: "You're neox, right?" Zane nodded. "Then you must know of Redorick Jan?" The lizard asked. Zane replied "I know he was the greatest monarch in neox history and that he founded the Janwall." The lizzard seemed overjoyed that he could once more teach him something and started his story.


	5. Chapter five: Tales of heroism

Tales of heroism

A hundred thousand years ago, there was a monarch called Redoric Jan. He had inherited most of the human empire from his parents and conquered the rest using the wealth at his disposal. He was the icon hero of all neox. In his years of reign, he put every effort in parting neox from human. No human blessed with neox blood could mate with a regular human. After thousands of years, generations for humans, not even a lifetime for a neox, the results were already visible. Halfbreeds started to die and only neox or human were born. However this is where it took a dark turn. Oposers of his regime bread with the regulars and so became a hinder in his plans. His answer was violence. He purged the 'foul' with blood and made his regime increasingly harsh. He even made birth controll laws. People needed permission to reproduce, all to prevent the making of an unwanted child. All children of neox and some human colonies needed to be able and healthy. It were foul measures for a future purged of the foul. Untill his last breath, he upheld the principles of the genewall, and so the 'Janwall' came to existence. An organisation raised in his name that took the task to enforce the laws he made and keep the neox families toghtly together.

The Rediric principle existed for longer then Redoric himself, but this was the first time in knon history that it was used in this way, to split a spiecies in two: one weak and numerous, and one strong and ruling. He revolutionised the principle, thus it was named after him. Right here, on Antar, it has been used to guide evolution of the pheages. At its turn, the creatures in the jungle are desperately trying to catch up to that evolution. It us a lot slower on antar, however. The beasts in this jungle are greatly inferior to the adaptivity of the human race.

The ability of humanity to rapidly change has been abused by the Janwall principle, but theres noone who blames him. The things he did, he did for a brighter future for both human and neox. Now the times of retaliation are long gone for the human race. To rebel against this principle now is useless, since the genewall stood for over a hundred thousand years and will stand strong for another hundred thousand after today. The phantom wall that binds the neox families and their allies is eve stronger than the bonds between the nations of the hydran empire. Your proud race will die before the Janwall breaks, all thanks to Redorick Jan. He did more then he realised.

Most of what he achieved, happened after death. So, Zane, dont be afraid of death. You have already written history by being here. All that comes after will only make your tale more impressive. For us mortals, this is how we live forever: writing history. Our bodies may decay, our soul may pass on to the next world, but our tales of heroism will forever be written into the flux that makes this universe.

The lizard had finished his drink and put the empty glass on the small table in between them. Zane had only taken one sip of the strange beverage. It didnt taste how he'd expect it to taste. But is was too foreign in taste for him to like it. He looked down into the red liquid in his glass and saw his own reflection. But strangely enough he had dirt and blood on his face. Like he had just been in a battle. He touched his face but it was clean. He looked again, but the dirt and blood were gone. He looked ot to Leiff. The lizard suddenly said. "you had a nightmare last night." Zane nodded. "How do you know?" "Your reflection in the blood. It shows me." The lizard said. "does this blood show my dreams?" "It shows whats on your mind. You struggle with this dream. You're trying to find out the meaning of this dream, like its a warning." "You assume a lot from just a beat up face, Leiff." "I took that conclusion from just looking at you."

The door of the lobby opened. A salamander wearing a mechanics outfit spoke to us. "yea, uhh.. the shutlle's all ready melord." While he pointed to the hallway. Leiff nodded and sent him away with the words "He'll be right down.". He took the glass of Drainblood out of Zane's hands and said: "Its not for everyone." with a smile on his face. "I'll see you next year, i hope." the lizard said as zane left the room. In the hallway to the hangar he looked back. He saw a figure observing him in the distance. As the person in the distance saw Zane looking at him, he turned away. His cloack waved as he turned revealing silver plating on his torso. On the back of his cape there was a royal looking emblem. He saw that same emblem on the tower when he left with the shuttle. Could he have been the Pheagelord? But Zane needn't think about those kind of things. He was about to enter one of the most dangerous jungles in the galaxy for a year. And all he had were the white officers clothes he got back on the Adronteon. "Well, i'll give it my all, once more." He thaught to himself, while hoovering over the vast jungle of Antar.


	6. Chapter six: The drop

The drop

After a long flight over the canopy of the jungle the shuttle descended over a barren piece of land. They landed on a small empty piece of land surrounded by small stone fortifications and burnt our campfires. The wildlife in the jungle was scared away by the violent humming of the shuttles hoverblades. The leaves of the trees around them went wild and the sand beneath the aircraft was being pushed away as a sturdy concrete landing pad was revealed. This clearly hasn't been used in a long time. The landing gear toughed the ground and made a hard clank. A ray of light entered the inside of the ship as the doors slowly opened. The ramp extended from the craft and Zane walked down. As he set foot on the concrete the shuttle started to lift again. Zane stepped forward looking around him. In all directions he was surrounded with dense jungle. He looked up as the aircraft ascended and slowly turned its hoverblades sideways. The thrusters on the back engaged in a mighty roar and the shuttle took off with tremendous speed. The trees trembled and bent in a marvellous shockwave as the shuttle skimmed over the canopy.

Zane walked towards the nearest stone fortification that seemed to have served as a shelter. The scratches on the rocks and on the floor indicated the ineffectiveness of the stone shelter. He wasn't surprised at all to discover the remains of one of his predecessor when he looked between the rocks. Fate was unkind to this one. Whatever predator was after him didn't get to him, instead his shelter collapsed on top if his head and got crushed. "well, that sure is encouraging." He thought to himself. The sun was high up the sky as he moved towards the jungle. "if I'm gonna be found, I prefer it not be in the open." He walked into the darkness between he massive plantlife of the jungle. "I wont have much light, so farming is not an option... well, I'm supposed to learn to be a wolf here anyway. Better start developing my night vision". The darkness took to him after a while and it didn't get easier, because the sun was starting to set slowly. "The days sure go fast when you're surviving." He grabbed onto the moss growing on the side of a big tree and slowly climbed his way up the tree. By the end of the year, he's supposed to be running up these trees. He got the first big branch and checked his surroundings. A couple of vines that looked sturdy enough to swing away on a moments notice. The other branches were pretty far from this. If something were to come after him, it'll either have to climb the tree, or jump really far. In both cases he'll feel the branch rocking. He found a good sleeping spot for the night.

Now he anticipated for another 2 hours until dark. He starts running towards the end of the branch and jumps off, grabbing onto a vine to slow his descent. He lets go of the vine and lands on the roots of the tree next to his. He looks back to remind himself of where his sleeping spot is. Then he takes off in search for food. He ran for about 30 minutes until he finds a pond in between the trees. He pulls out his uniform and takes a leap into the water. He opens his eyes and scans for signs of life. Some small movement in the dark. Small fish trying to hide between the branches. But not for long. These fish quickly turned tail and swam towards him. About a dozen fish swam towards him like little torpedoes. It seems they have noticed that he was made out of meat. The fish opened their mouths to display a set of tiny sharp teeth. "of course, carnivorous fish". He quickly thrusts upwards to evade the impact. The small school of piranha-like creatures disbanded and spread out. He swam towards the closest one and reached out. The fish quickly realised that prey had turned into predator as the hand closed around his body. Zane held the fish stuck between his teeth and swam upwards.

He climbed one of the branches and jumped over to where he had left his clothes only to discover that a humongous insect had taken interest in them. A giant brown spotted beetle sat on top of his clothes with his head buried in his shirt. The insect pulled out his head and saw Zane with the fish between his teeth and quickly ran away. Zane broke off a small branch, took the fish from between

his teeth, spitted out the horrible taste and jabbed the stick right through the heart of the little fish. He took his shirt and held it up to his nose. "sweat. It seems these beetles were attracted by the smell of my sweat. And if I'm not careful, so will other creatures." He was lucky this time it was only beetle. Who knows what monsters live in this jungle. He broke off the stem of a sapling and peeled the tip into a sharp point. He now had a short spear to jab his prey with.

He gathered up some rocks and sticks and started a little fire in an open spot near the pond. He had caught a few more of these piranhas in the mean time. He took the sharpened stick and attempted to skin the fish. It took a while, but in the end he got there. He'll need to make some kind of knife tomorrow. The fish were absolutely disgusting. He'll also need to find a new prey. After he ate and put out the fire, he quickly ran towards his assigned sleeping spot before he attracted too much attention from the wildlife around here. He laid down and closed his eyes. "the first night is always the hardest they say. Well, the first day went all right. I'm alive, I ate, I can sleep. I don't haven anything more to hope for." He thought as he slowly dazed away.


End file.
